Good Neighbor Podcast: Cooper City
Bringing Together Local Businesses & Neighbors of Cooper City
Good Neighbor Podcast: Cooper City
EP #300 - Quality Termite and Pest Control with Jenny Chapter
Imagine sitting in your living room when suddenly your ceiling collapses, showering you with debris and termites. This nightmare scenario is becoming increasingly common across South Florida as non-native Formosan termites spread through every county, leaving devastation in their wake.
In this eye-opening conversation, Jenny Chapter—a third-generation pest control expert and owner of Quality Termite and Pest Control—shares critical information every homeowner needs to hear. As one of the few female owners in a traditionally male-dominated industry, Jenny brings both extensive expertise and a unique perspective to termite prevention and control.
The stakes couldn't be higher. These "super termites" form colonies of millions that work 24/7 devouring wooden structures from the inside out. Even more alarming, they secrete acids that can penetrate concrete foundations, allowing access where none existed before. And the financial blow? Devastating. No homeowner's insurance covers termite damage, leaving families to shoulder full rebuilding costs when infestations destroy their homes.
Jenny dispels common myths about termites "eating concrete" while revealing the actual mechanisms these pests use to invade homes. She offers practical, actionable advice for protecting your property: maintaining a termite-free perimeter, eliminating moisture sources that attract colonies, and implementing proper preventative treatments that create effective barriers against invasion.
The message is clear: in South Florida, termite protection isn't optional—it's essential. With annual professional inspections and proper preventative measures, you can safeguard your biggest investment from these relentless destroyers. Don't wait until you see damage; by then, it's often too late.
Contact Quality Termite and Pest Control today for a free inspection and learn how their family-oriented, customer-focused team can protect your home with their expertise developed across three generations in the industry.
Call now to schedule a Free Inspection with one of their Pest Specialists-(954) 842-9411
Visit: https://qualitypestinc.com/
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where little businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Jeremy Wolf.
Speaker 2:Hello, hello, friends, family, great community, wonderful universe. We are back on the Good Neighbor Podcast and our guest today is a proud member of our great community. She lives right here in Cooper City and I am here with Jenny Chapter, who is the owner of Quality, termite and Pest Control, and I've done many interviews on the show and it's been fascinating to see how many businesses, how many trade businesses AC, plumbing, restoration, to name a few, and now pet control are female owned and operated. These are industries that are primarily or traditionally owned by men, so it's always interesting to hear the perspective of someone, a female, that owns the business. So, jenny, welcome to the show.
Speaker 3:Thank you. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2:Oh, of course, and thanks as always, everyone for tuning in Learn more about our great community and the businesses that serve us. So, jenny, without further ado, why don't you tell our listeners a little bit about your business? Quality Pest Control.
Speaker 3:Alrighty, yes, I'm a third generation in the industry, so the whole family has been involved for many years. Obviously I've got the grandparents, the aunts, uncles, my parents, brothers, myself and I really I love what I do. General pest control is necessary with our climate here, but everything from the ground up. We do a lot of pre-construction work with builders, all the way up to structural fumigation and everything in between.
Speaker 2:Nice Are you serving primarily, I'd imagine, the South Florida market, like what's your primary service areas?
Speaker 3:Primary service areas, the Tri-County area. We are labeled offices and plantation, so primarily the Tri-County area. However, we do work statewide for builders for pre-construction. On the pre-construction level, there's termite treatments necessary during the building stage and so we are statewide with regard to that, but primarily Tri-County, and I love everything right here in my community. I'm happy to serve this area.
Speaker 2:Yes, we do live in a truly wonderful community here in Cooper City. I know you mentioned this is a multi-generational business, so you've always had a hand in this. But I'm curious talk a little bit about your journey when you were younger, because you were surrounded by this, did you always? This is what I am going to do with my life. I'm fascinating. Were you like a kid and you were just fascinated with bugs? Or how did evolution occur? How do you end up in the business and kicking the baton, if you will, and moving it forward?
Speaker 3:Sure, yeah, I remember as a child always having a bug box and collecting lizards and lizard eggs. And at seven years old I started and I laugh about it now a sandpile filling what we call sand snakes. That were utilized years back for the holding and weeding down of tarts for structural fumigation. They've come a long way in the industry since then, where we utilize fire hoses now filled with water and it's a little easier method. But yeah, at a very young age started's 14 years old Our summers we were full-fledged working in the family business and just was always surrounded by it and my grandmother's office.
Speaker 3:I remember her sales board and I would go in and get so excited. It was chalkboards back then. I would write on the chalkboard and do my doodling and it's been amazing too, my parents over the years. They work together in their business and you hear the names thrown around around the dinner table and me now in the industry, as I've grown through and up a lot of the. There's a lot of family operated businesses in our industry and those names that were tossed around then are being tossed around now with the children taking over the businesses and it's nice. It's a very friendly industry and I'm very delved into the Florida Pest Management Association as well as the National Pest Management Association, but I love to stay up and up with the latest technology, the latest science. Those products are always evolving and it's important that you're up and up with the latest, because insects are not just like humans.
Speaker 3:They build up a resistance to product and you need to rotate face and the science changes and you have to be up with the latest techniques and treatment methods, as well as equipment. So I love it. I am fascinated, absolutely.
Speaker 2:No, go ahead.
Speaker 3:Yeah, the learning of the different insects and when I have four main licenses in the state of Florida for our industry to have and I remember going for my first license and the studies of it it's really gets amazing when you get into the how many species of ants we have and roaches we have. You wouldn't believe the and a different behavior with termites and it's it is fascinating once you start digging into it. It's something that I never really thought that I would be enthralled with. I absolutely I love what I do. I do. I really enjoy getting out there every day. I like being in the field, boots on the ground, in the thick of it, and I like to get in and make it yes.
Speaker 3:I love. I really enjoy the conversations and, as you're going through doing the inspection process and there's a lot of things that go on that you wouldn't be aware of and just a trained eye is really important I couldn't stress enough the importance of having annual inspections on any given property. In Florida, if you own property, you must have it inspected every year. We're dealing with a species of termite in particular that's not native to Florida that we're really dealing with them now and I can see the devastation that's been going on over the last several years and it's progressively getting worse and they're here to stay. We share territory and it's just important that you are proactive and preventing your property. It's a matter of time. It's not if it's when you are going to get these termites.
Speaker 2:And the devastation is real, so I personally like to just try to get the education out there to the average property owner on how important it is to protect your biggest investment being your home, your business. They're here and the damage is real, a hundred percent. I could actually speak to this from personal experience I think I mentioned this to you my old house when I moved in. It was a big house and I declined to get the preventative termite treatment because it was a big expense. I ended up getting termites, had a bunch of issues and ultimately had to get the property tented and it was a huge project and it really taught me a good lesson, the thing I've been saying more and more as I get older an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
Speaker 2:It's always best to maintain, especially where we live in Florida. Like you mentioned, the climate here is just so hot and humid it's really a festering ground for creepy crawlies. It's so funny that most kids are terrified by bugs and creepy crawlies, but not you, jenny Chapter. You met him head on. What is the name for the study of insects? It's entomology right Entomology.
Speaker 3:Yes, yes, entomology is the scientific brain on that.
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah, the University of Florida has got a phenomenal department Gators.
Speaker 3:They've got one of the best entomology departments up there and it's very educational.
Speaker 2:So good stuff.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I actually. I had a stop the other day. I went out and there was a five-year-old little girl and she was so enthralled with it and I just again, like you said, not many people are in it.
Speaker 2:You're going to get her under your wing and start greening her. Let's take over the business.
Speaker 3:I've got a hand farm on the way to her house right now and a bug box to go with it. She just followed me around. It was just fascinating. I've got three daughters that I would love to see a fourth generation someday and at the end of the day, I really want to support them and their passion. However, not a bad gig to fall back. So I'm hoping for four generations at some point to to follow and continue the legacy on in the industry.
Speaker 2:Oh, it's coming, it's coming. It's so funny to me. I've gotten better as I've gotten older with the creepy crawlies. I used to be terrified of spiders. I still. If I see a cockroach crawling around, I'm still like a little bit taken back. Oh gosh, now they're going to kill that thing. Yeah, you're an occasional invader sometimes.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you're an occasional invader sometimes yeah. But if you've got an issue, absolutely Maintenance is important. You have to prevent the maintenance on a regular basis and you should have no issues.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's such a raffinal fear, though, of most insects like these little tiny things. It's more of just a disgust factor. I think people are just. They see it, they're sickened by it. It's just the idea that crawling on you but it's really they can't hurt you. Yeah.
Speaker 3:And a lot of people are very fearful of it and not something that's part of the family.
Speaker 2:So one of the reasons why we do the show is in every industry obviously there's tons of myths and misconceptions and there's lots of misunderstandings. I know obviously you seeing clients every day and meeting with people on the in the field, I'm sure you get a lot of that. What are some of the most common things that people misunderstand about your industry or what you do specifically?
Speaker 3:One of them would be that you hear all the time of termites are eating concrete. They don't eat the concrete, but they are the species that we're dealing with. It's not native to Florida. It was introduced here. They have spread exponentially. They've been found now in every county.
Speaker 2:And, and they eat concrete.
Speaker 3:They don't eat concrete. They've got a fountain on the front that protrudes an acid-like substance that eats through concrete.
Speaker 2:Oh, it eats through. So they chew on the wood and then they excrete a substance that then deteriorates the concrete. Is that what happens?
Speaker 3:It's concrete in the area, let's say your slab, they just excrete an acid-type substance that eats through the concrete to give them access to the inside of the structure. I say small but mighty. There's millions in a colony and they're extremely destructive. They're the biggest termite that we deal with. There's a number there's millions in a colony, versus thousands in a drywood colony which drywood termites are very prevalent in the South. You have them in South California, south Texas, south Florida and all your tropical islands.
Speaker 2:Hot, humid environments breed them. Yes.
Speaker 3:And drywoods have been here for years and years and that's typically what you're structurally fumigating, but it's not terranian or really the bigger threat as far as from a structural standpoint. The damage that they cause and create in a very short term is devastating and you don't always know that you have them. Even with a strained eye going in and inspecting a property, what happens is they thrive on moisture. They inoriginate from the ground. They come up through stucco and hollow block on the exterior of a property or plumbing penetrations in the internal, or they can disintegrate that concrete, gaining access. It could also be just a settlement crack in the slab. The end of the day, what I really want to get the education out there to any property owner on how devastating it is, because I've seen it firsthand with boots on the ground where I've got husbands and wives. They were sitting watching television on the couch in the evening and the ceiling fell down and termites. They had no idea they had termites.
Speaker 3:And that's how they operate, and more devastating of it all is not just the treatment cost is something that needs to be taken care of, but no insurance company will cover the damage. So rebuilding a home is just absolutely people just don't budget for that. It's an unexpected expense and it's a real issue, and we're seeing it more and more, and I personally just I just want to get the education out there, and you can learn a lot online as well. So I would definitely encourage anyone to just do a little bit of research online, with the Formosan subterranean termite in particular, because that's what we're dealing with and they're a blanket over the south. There's no hiding from them. They swarm in the air as well, just like drywood termites will swarm in the air, usually early evening hours. If you're out walking your dog, look at the streetlights You're going to find them. Your lights around your house you're going to find them.
Speaker 3:Some preventative measures that are very important with regard to the subterranean termite, which are the most devastating, and what we're really finding a lot of at this time would be water and wood are not your friends, so mulch up against the structure is not recommended. If you pull that out, at least one foot from the structure. You can use pea, rock, sod, soil, rubber, mulch, anything other than wood. Also AC drip lines, notorious, you think.
Speaker 2:Just a little bit of water, just a little water over a long time will build up and create a. They find it, believe it or not.
Speaker 3:They require a lot of moisture the subterranean termites, whereas the dry wood don't necessarily. So we're dealing with a lot of species of termites and we're ground zero right here, and I started in Hollywood, hollander Beach and Dania Beach area. I want to tell you that they've just it's been several years and a couple of decades now that they've been here. They have just spread wildly and like wildfire, absolutely, areas we've never seen.
Speaker 3:But the last two years our industry we really prior to that we've always known the hot-pocketed areas but nobody's safe anymore. We're popping in areas and we're pretty friendly industry, so we're calling these a woad. Foremost it's here, and there's other species of subterranean as well. We're dealing with their crossbreeding. We've got Asian termites, we've got conehead. They're all just as devastating and they're here and it's a real threat. So I just know the importance of having some type of a preventative and it's recommended every five years that you have a preventative treatment performed both for subterranean and drywood. The subterranean preventative consists of in-ground treatment every foot around the perimeter.
Speaker 3:They drill little holes in the base the perimeter and put some kind of treatment in there. We do that for an infestation? Absolutely yes. Every foot around the perimeter we're popping a half inch gauge hole using a long rod, pumping with product or plug and patch after. We also, in conjunction with that if you've got an infestation, or utilizing the bait stations, baits, termite baits again, science evolves and that have found a great success. With regards to the bait stations, if they find the bait, there's some room for error there, which is why it's important to, in conjunction with that in-ground treatment around the perimeter, protecting the property, to also place bait stations every 10 feet around the structure, and one feeding will take a colony out, which is fabulous.
Speaker 3:We want to see a feeding on a bait station and having them checked on an annual basis, having your properties, whether it be a commercial, residential, industrial have it inspected every year. There's no reason not to have the inspection. They're free inspections and make a little joke about it. We go to the doctor every year for ourselves. Take your home, it's your biggest investment. Have it checked every year.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely Goodness. I had a thought in my mind. It escaped me. It's going to come back in just a second. I know it is bait stations, termites. I told you earlier, sometimes I lose my train of thought, Okay here it is.
Speaker 2:Just came back. You hear that everybody out there this is important you cannot get. If I understand correctly, you cannot get insurance for termites through your homeowner's policy. But what you can do is you could reach out to Jenny and have them come over and do an inspection and then come up with a plan and that's the insurance. It's getting preventative termite treatment for the biggest investment you have, which is your house. So don't be stupid like I was and wait and have to get your house tempted for seven to $8,000 or whatever the hell I paid.
Speaker 3:Yes, it's extremely important. Most people don't realize. You look through your insurance that the insurance doesn't cover it and it's devastating. It's something that the normal property owner wouldn't know. And when I tell you the destruction is real, you're like the first little pig. You're the studs all the way up to your trusses and you're collapsing and it's a whole rebuild.
Speaker 2:So the devastation. I wanted to ask you about that because you've dealt with this for a while. Obviously you've had all sorts of experiences. What happens when you have subterranean and they eat so much of the structure that it needs to be replaced? How do they go in there and fix that, or do you have to redo the whole house?
Speaker 3:A lot of times. Yes, the devastation. It's gone Some of the contractors that I talk with, they say, oh my gosh, a termite. They don't know much about termite, but they do know that when they go in there to do a remodel, or sometimes they're buying a home and they're going to, it's only being held up by the caulking and the pay that gets it, and when it's down it's shredded. There's no, virtually no stud left, they're gone. And one of those that you just had. I was onto something and I'm forgot about it.
Speaker 2:Oh, it happens to the rest of us.
Speaker 3:Yes you have A ton of things going through your mind. As far as the preventative treatments, and even if you've got an infestation and we come out and perform a treatment, we do put a termite bond on that property. You don't have the insurance through the insurance company, but you do have us. So if we do a treatment, you do have a one-year renewal that's annually renewable every year thereafter. So it's just important to keep up on it, have it looked at every year, like I said, and doing that treatment and having us in place, you're protected. You're protected. You're protecting the structure. We're coming out, we're putting eyeballs on it on at least an annual basis and if you need us anywhere in between, you're covered. For that, you call us.
Speaker 3:You see something that you didn't remotely concerning. It concerns it. Keep it off to the side. Let us look at a sample. Don't discard it. If you see something, even if you put it in a baggie or just sweep it off to the side, don't want to touch it. Whatnot? Photos, if necessary, you can always send some photos, but the best thing is just having a sample of what it is. A diagnosis is the most important thing so that we know what we're dealing with, so that we can treat it properly.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it happens too often us as human beings, we tend to put things off until there's a big problem, like we don't take the preventative measures, we don't get these inspections done for our investments and we're just like, ah, we just wait until there's an issue and then oftentimes it's too late or it just becomes a huge cost nightmare. So always important, you don't always realize, yeah, the different things.
Speaker 3:There's governing room here, we're having the roof inspector and definitely you don't think of that. Everybody gets busy in their everyday life and we've all.
Speaker 2:Yep, it happens.
Speaker 3:Yes, it does, and it's just important. Again, I can't stress enough that we are dealing with a species that we've not always had here, it's not native to here, it was introduced here you just. It protects your property because it is absolutely a matter of time, it's not an if it is when, and it's much cheaper to have a preventative treatment than it is to have a treatment once you've had a full blown infestation. And now you're looking at subterranean termites. What's fascinating about the Formosan to me? I?
Speaker 2:say small the Formosan.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's what we're dealing with now. Years back we had an eastern subterranean termite. They're almost obsolete at this point and when treating for them they have the ability. If you've got a roof leak or a window shaker, ac unit in a wall or anything that's putting off a little bit of condensation, it doesn't take much moisture for them to thrive and survive. They originate from the ground. They're 24 hours a day up and down, millions in a colony. If they find a water source above ground, they have the ability to make what's called a satellite colony that separates them from the ground and at that point they're building a carton nest is what we call it and they have the ability to thrive and survive from that carton nest and not go down to the ground any longer.
Speaker 3:So you can put in-ground treatment and bait stations. You can kill what's in ground. However, if you have that carton nest, which a lot of times will be behind a wall, behind the subfloor, up in the roof area, inaccessible areas naked to the eye, you then have to, in conjunction with the in-ground treatment, structurally fumigate the property. But four times the amount of fumigate gets shot into that tent to kill the Formosan termite. So just to give you an idea of what a super termite it is. It's a drywood termite. You've seen the tents over the years and right now the circus is in town. You're going to start seeing these tents go up and down all
Speaker 3:over the place. This is our season. We just mid-March, usually after a good rain. That humidity is what draws them out. They start that swarming process and they're a blanket over the South. You are not hiding from them, they're everywhere. We're doing a lot of structural fumigations for dry wood but again, when you're dealing with that sub, it's just wild how much they have spread. And again, south Florida has been here for a long time. I look at the integrity of the structure being compromised. Personally, myself, I get afraid of high-rises. Sometimes it's because I know what they can do and as long as they're taking the preventative measures. Water again, a lot of the homes along the waterways, your fingers of Fort Lauderdale, all of Hollandale, hollywood.
Speaker 2:Prime areas. Yeah, hot of Hollandale.
Speaker 3:Hollywood Prime areas, yeah, hot areas, but there, riverland Road, again, waterways. That moisture is really what they thrive on and we're seeing definitely there's areas that are more inundated than others but nonetheless they're out to 27 and everywhere in between they're north or south. We've never seen them in these areas and they are absolutely everywhere. We again in the industry have there's been lots of talks and lots of segments and programs on the species of termite in particular. It's just been a absolute devastating. Again. Everyone does something to make this world go round and educating anyone that's not in the pest control industry or termite that doesn't know much about them. I want to get that education out there on how what we're dealing with it's there.
Speaker 2:It's really important.
Speaker 3:Extremely important. It's extremely important to me. I hate seeing the devastation every day when I'm out there with a normal family living life and we all have bills and we're kids and life happens, and to have something so unexpected as a ceiling collapse and you're looking at your trust as you go, it's overwhelming, and especially when it comes to that insurance just take a hike.
Speaker 3:And to rebuild a home is just. I've had some customers. They're at a loss and it's devastating. And what do I do? Do I just sell it as is? Do I try to get contractors in and here in South Florida trying to find contractors to suture up, fix and repair?
Speaker 2:Ugly stuff, ugly situation and totally avoidable, totally avoidable.
Speaker 3:Absolutely yes.
Speaker 3:Yes, absolutely avoidable, Just again, get a quick look-see every year. Just have that inspection done and prevent it. Just have the prevent done to prevent you a lot of times from needing a structural fumigation. With regard to the drywood termite and pest control, I don't want to leave pest control out. Pest control is important too. Everything's blooming, breeding, swarming this time of year, so ants will swarm as well, so you may have ant activity lighting around the exterior of a home.
Speaker 3:All insects are attracted to light, especially those termites. At Home Depot or Lowe's and I tell my customers this as well in the lighting section they have bulbs that specifically say dusk and dawn or bug light directly on it. It's got a yellow hue to it. They do come in LED form. I highly recommend put those on the exterior of the house so you're not, they don't attract the insects. You still get the outdoor lighting, but you're not attracting the insects.
Speaker 3:There's some little preventative measures that you can take in conjunction with, again, making sure that your AC drip lines and your gutters are all put a PVC extension on that AC drip line, if need be, so that you don't have water sitting pooling up against the structure, because that's really a big issue and those are just little things that the average homeowner can take as far as trying to prevent, as far as preventative on a pest control standpoint. A lot of times you'll see you've got palms and trees that are hanging over the ledge or on the rooftop. There's a lot of green measures that you can take prior to needing to put product to prevent rodent issues in the attic space. Ants from coming in. Cut those limbs back so that they're not a highway for them to get into the property. Soffit vents yeah, soffit vents are another thing. You've got rodents every year, especially in the cooler months, are coming into the attic space. You don't realize what goes on in the attic.
Speaker 3:We do a full inspection. We come out and the whole interior of that house gets treated and looked at. We're looking at plumbing areas, which is a prime area for the subterranean termite in the attic space, from insulation not being up to par to rodent activity where you've got contamination. We do extraction, a full extraction, an attic restoration where we take all of the contaminated insulation out. We sanitize the attic space. We blow in fresh, bringing it up to code, utilizing a product that is laced with boric acid, which is non-toxic but it helps aid against ants, roaches, termites, rodents don't prefer to nest in it. So it's a wonderful insulation. It's the density of it it's just the coverage is one of the top notch. It's a great product, and then the fact that it's laced with boric acid is just a huge plus. It's just why we do it.
Speaker 2:You are truly a wealth of knowledge. But you know what they say, jenny All work, no play makes Jack a dull boy. So what do you like to do for fun when you're not working near downtime? Do you have any downtime or you just? You seem like you're a mile a minute. You're a wealth of knowledge.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I've always been told that I'm a live wire. No doubt I run quick. I love the outdoors. I like being outdoors. I have three daughters. Two of them are away. One is in Jacksonville. She was. She was an FSU girl. She graduated with her.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 3:And in communications with. Jacksonville now, yeah, and I've got the middle one up in Tallahassee and then I've got a 12 year old that resides here in Cooper city with me and attends the Cooper city school. I really love my time. When I've got Addison, my youngest, and her friends, we have a lot of fun. We're constantly running, we're not.
Speaker 2:Constantly running around or constantly running like running.
Speaker 3:No, yeah, I'm not good at my stamina.
Speaker 2:I'm not great at running you caught my interest when you said running, I'm a runner. Oh, you run too, I do the fit to run all the time.
Speaker 3:I'm sure you're familiar with that the fit to run. But, yeah, no, I would like to get to the gym a little more. I definitely was heavily into the gym the minute I could drive. I was at the gym every day and I cut that out a bit ago and I'm feeling it now. I'm getting a little older. It's important to take care of yourself too, but as far as running now, we're staying busy.
Speaker 2:Running around staying busy. Yeah Well, she's in, she's 12. She's in sixth grade. Sure is A pioneer, yeah.
Speaker 3:She is, yeah, a pioneer. Yeah, elementary here off of, and my all three of my girls went there. Love coach lynch, coach lynch was one of my favorite in carline and and, yeah, it's great school, wonderful school great community we live in.
Speaker 2:My daughter is in seventh grade at pioneer, but she's about to turn 13, so that's getting interesting yes, no, that's the word the word I use is interesting, I'll leave it at that I've got, I'll let the listeners yeah, think about what that means.
Speaker 3:Absolutely, I've got. They're all girls. Mine are 25, 21 and 12. So, yes, it's, you're hitting that age. Yeah, 13, 14. Things start changing a lot. Oh, yeah, you got to tiptoe sometimes With the.
Speaker 2:Yes, she's been doing a lot better than she has her moments and again, I leave it at that, without getting too deep into it.
Speaker 3:Into the meltdown ages Got to work through it, yeah.
Speaker 2:Indeed. Okay. So one of the things I've noticed the older I get in life, I realized that when I was younger and I was experiencing some kind of difficult, challenging experience, I used to get overwhelmed and frustrated and ask myself why is this happening to me? But the older I get, the more I realize that in many cases those experiences are by far and away the most valuable and that's what really helps you grow and progress through life. Looking back through your journey, is there something that comes to mind? Was there a one life defining moment or maybe not that, just something that happened throughout your journey, that kind of fits, that bill where, in the moment you thought that the world was ending, you thought the walls were closing in, there was nowhere to go, you'd never recover from it. But now, sitting here today, you could look back like man. I'm damn glad I went through that because it brought me to where I am today.
Speaker 3:It's funny you say I'm damn glad I went through that because it brought me to where I am today. It's funny you say I think, as life brings challenges, we're always going through challenges and getting through. And you look back and say, my gosh, how did I get through that? But yeah, just facing it head on and just get out there. You listen, you can only control so much and try not to let it consume you. If you can't control it, don't allow it to control you. I'm pretty good at letting things just roll off the shoulder. But as far as in the industry-wise things that I said, well, did I make a move when I decided in 2005 to go off on my own, take my first state license in the industry and you know it's nerve-wracking.
Speaker 3:I'm a young mother and you're starting a business and the bills are real and you learn a lot Everything from insurances to the licensing and you're running and you have a little bit of self-doubt Can I do this? Can I even Just keep jumping? The more you put in is what you're going to get out, and I just believe in, just keep rolling forward, and I've had challenging jobs at times. I love a challenge when it comes to the industry. At the end of the day, I've got a Rolodex in that phone and a lot of great peers in the industry manufacturers, distributors that you can call upon. I feel like I'm pretty well adept to different situations out in the field, but the fact that you have them in your back pocket if they need to come out on site for any reason, just look at and say you know what? This is one that we've been battling. I've looked at every avenue that I know and just to get their insight too. Again, just staying up and up with the latest in the industry, the latest in the science, the latest in the product and the treatment methods, is crucial. But again, you've got people and I love that. It's a friendly industry. I love to help others prosper, go and grow and if they want it, I'm supportive of it, even if they're an employee of mine. I love my employees. I've got a wonderful team. I believe that you're only as good as your employees. You can't do everything on your own and delegation is something that I've always had a struggle with.
Speaker 3:My grandmother is a world of wisdom. She was in this industry in the 60s and 70s and I still look up to her to this day. She's a wonderful, the powerhouse of a woman of knowledge, and I just love having those conversations. And she's always asking everyone have you built up the pest control? Yeah, and the reoccurring? She was big on pest control and I'm kind of laughed because there are so many different departments in this industry. Like I said, four licenses to have. One would be just your general household pest control, which is for general pests and rodents to maintain. You've also got fumigation, which is for structural. You've got a termite license, which is for all other methods of termite treatment, especially the subterranean and in-ground.
Speaker 3:There's different ways of treating these termites. You don't treat them all in one run. You ways of treating these termites. You don't treat them all in one run. You can't just bag a house and think that, okay, we're taking care of it. You need to identify that species and treat it properly, and then there's a lawn and ornamental license to have, and once you gain all four of those you're considered a full ticket. And my mother gained a full ticket and I too gained a full ticket In doing so.
Speaker 3:My father loved the pre-construction work with a lot of builders throughout the state, which I love as well. There's a treatment on the soil that is mandated before pouring concrete on any structure. So whether it be a Publix or a Wawa or a High Rise or a single-family home all of those communities that they're building they have to have a termite treatment prior to the pouring of concrete. So that's one side. My father loved that. My uncle loved the structural fumigation. My grandmother loved the pest control, the reoccurring. My aunt had a lawn and ornamental was her niche with it. I happen to love termite. Termite is just something that we're dealing with and the fact that I can help people to protect their biggest investment and get the treatment necessary out there and fix the problem. I get great gratification out of that. And again, when it comes to my people, I just love growing and going. One of my best employees, george. He's wonderful.
Speaker 2:Shout out to George.
Speaker 3:Yes, been with us for about seven years now and he started as a dishwasher as he came in. Sometimes you love to bring somebody in that has zero knowledge because you can train them your way.
Speaker 3:So you don't want to have any bad habits. Come in and he's really just really taken to it and interested since day one. He's really put the heart in. He takes care of the customers. He really takes great pride. The customers absolutely love him.
Speaker 3:I get more five stars from George and I hate to lose him. But you know what? He's earned his wings and I'd love to go in and grow. So he's gone for his first exam. I signed him up for a crash course and for the study material and set him up to a pop-up testing site and I said and said listen, you're going to go for this one first, it's the most versatile, and then we're going to shoot you for the next one and the next and then another one If he has aspirations to have his own business one day. I am all supportive. We're not competitors. We were friends in this industry. We really you know what one company may not do, we may, vice versa. I do hold the license for Laudanone Mental. I don't operate in it, but I absolutely. I've got a long guy and hey, it's yours, so it's a great industry. I really. There's enough work for everyone. I have that kind of mentality with it and we all have the work to survive.
Speaker 2:That's the mentality to have. Right, it's this abundance mindset. Right. Rising tide lifts all boats. There should be more collaboration in all industries. Right, competition is going to happen, but there should be constructive competition. Right, where everybody's trying to get better and trying to collaborate.
Speaker 3:Oh, we lost you, Jenny. There you go. I love what I do. We lost you for a second Very cool, okay.
Speaker 2:So before we wrap up here, what would be one thing that you wish our listeners would know about your business? You got one thing. If there's one thing you wanted them to know about the business, what would that be?
Speaker 3:The one thing that I'm so passionate about right now not necessarily about the business. It's just about how important it is to protect your property. Period, you must protect your property. It's only getting worse. These termites are not going away and they're an absolute threat. That would be something that I've been trying through inside of South Florida. We've done some segments with them and they're just trying on radio, trying to get the education out there to the average property owner. They don't realize what we're dealing with and I don't want them there's an awareness.
Speaker 3:Awareness. I don't want them finding out the wrong way because it's devastating. Yeah Again, I can't reiterate enough.
Speaker 2:I said this earlier. You've got homeowners out there. Your Can't reiterate enough, said this earlier. You've got homeowners out there. Your home is, for most, it's your biggest asset, right? Prevention, prevention, prevention. If you haven't gotten an inspection recently, be sure to reach out to Jenny and Quality Termite and Pest Control and get that scheduled. So if you're out there, I don't know if you're around. You're seeing tons of roaches floating around the house.
Speaker 3:Pick up the phone and call Get somebody to come out and take a look. Yeah, and as far as in the business, real quick. What I love is that we've got a beautiful team. We're a very family-oriented operation. We do some family events with the employees. We're tight-knit it. And kind of old school in my ways, like paper pencils files we absolutely have adapted to the new way of doing life with the computers and all the ladies understand.
Speaker 3:But I'm very big on having a live individual answer our phones. I don't like the push one, push five. We're old school in those aspects.
Speaker 2:That's important. Nobody likes to call up a business when they're having, like, a crisis issue, like they're having an infestation of bugs, and you got a recording. It's like press one, give me a human being. I need somebody to come out here and handle this.
Speaker 3:Yes, you know, in a panic is something that you're not especially when they're swarming is when they swarm, it's internally. It's very frightening for a lot of people. This is something that they've not experienced before and it's scary to some people.
Speaker 2:My daughter will see like a little tiny nothing of a fly and she's like, please do like a thousand times bigger than a hundred. It's ridiculous.
Speaker 3:Yes, well, as into children. I can imagine I could see that, yeah.
Speaker 2:Okay, last thing how can our listeners learn more? Anyone out there that would like to reach out to you to get an inspection, to get something treated? What's the best way to connect with you? Maybe share your phone number, your website, social media. What's the best way to reach you guys?
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely, I'd say, by telephone. Telephone is wonderful. Our ladies are well-versed with everything in this and if you've got questions there they're really good. But just calling the office scheduling an inspection again is free of charge, no obligation. Just have us come out and do a look-see and make sure you're doing that every year. It's a necessary. We're here in Florida. We share the territory with these insects and termites in particular. I can't stress you how important it is just to have that-9411. Again, our ladies are great. They get us on a schedule and we out we go. You can check out our website at qualitypestinccom and but yeah, I would say by telephone would be the best means of getting an inspection scheduled and quickest.
Speaker 2:Excellent, and we will, of course, drop a link in the description below to all of your contact information for those that missed that. Other than that, thanks everyone for tuning in. I was happy to have you along for this ride If you found this content useful. Maybe you live in Cooper City. Let us know in the comments. We always love to hear your feedback, what's on your mind and, who knows, maybe you'll end up on the podcast in the future. If you live in the community and you own a business, come tell us your story. We're all interested and we'd love to hear it. Jenny, with a pleasure getting the opportunity to learn more about what you do for our great community, or backstory. So truly thanks for coming on the show.
Speaker 3:Thank you, Jeremy. I really appreciate the opportunity.
Speaker 2:Thank you and.
Speaker 3:Cooper City. Right now the tents are going up. Cooper City's not this isn't town, baby You're going to see those tents going up and down. So in my community I know where I certainly certainly Good for business.
Speaker 2:not so good for homeowners, but good to have you here handling this for people.
Speaker 3:Thank you very much, Jeremy. I appreciate the opportunity.
Speaker 2:Of course, everyone take care, have a wonderful day and stay safe out there. I only got this one life to live. Let's live it to the fullest. Everyone take care and have a a blessed day. Bye-bye.
Speaker 1:Thanks for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast Cooper City. To nominate your favorite local business to be featured on the show, go to GNPCooperCitycom. That's GNPCooperCitycom, or call 954-231-3170.